Monday, December 28, 2009

Victoria PhD Scholarships, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

Victoria PhD Scholarships – application information

Application form available here. Full regulations can be downloaded here. (Requires Acrobat Reader)

History or background of awardFor the purpose of encouraging postgraduate research, one objective being to build up strong research schools at the University, Victoria offers PhD scholarships to support doctoral studies. These scholarships are awarded on academic merit and are open to New Zealand and international students in any discipline.Purpose of awardThese Scholarships are intended to encourage doctoral study at Victoria University of Wellington.

Selection criteriaThe Scholarships are open to graduates of any university within or outside of New Zealand who intend to enrol either for PhD or who have started their PhD study within one year of application.

Applicants with Victoria University ‘offers of study’ of who are current Victoria University PhD students must apply on the application form available from the link at the top of this webpage.

Please note: from 1 January 2010 there are changes to both the process for applying for PhD study at Victoria and applying for a Victoria PhD Scholarship. How these changes affect you is outlined below.

From 1 January 2010, for new PhD applicants there will be one application process for admission to the PhD programme and University and for PhD scholarships. The combined application form will be available from late 2009 on the Faculty of Graduate Research Website.

Please note: Although applications will be considered from students seeking scholarship support for a PhD degree for which they are already enrolled at Victoria, if you have applied for a Victoria PhD scholarship in the past, you must provide updated or additional information to apply for a second round. Such applications must be accompanied by clear support from supervisors.

Tenure of awardScholarships will normally be tenable for three years. For a student who has already been enrolled for a PhD at Victoria for more than three months at the time when the offer of a Scholarship is made, the maximum length of tenure of the Scholarship will be reduced at the discretion of the Scholarships Committee.

Closing dates for applicationsMonday 01 March 2010Thursday 01 July 2010and 01 November 2010

How do students apply?Application forms for new PhD students are available from the Faculty of Graduate Research Website.Application forms for current PhD students or those with an ‘offer of study’ are available from the links above.

Scholarship regulations covering both groups of applicants are also available from the links above.

Decision makersThe University Scholarships Committee, a sub-committee of the University Research Council

How and when do students learn of the decision?Offers of Victoria Phd Scholarships will be made approximately six weeks after each closing date in March, July and November of the year of application. Because some applicants may in the event decline the offer of a Scholarship with the result that further offers have to be made, it is possible that some applicants will not be finally notified of the success or otherwise of their applications three months after application. If you are unsuccessful you will be notified of this and if you are on the researve list by email in the first instance. Please provide a clear and correct email address.

What conditions are attached to acceptance of this award?Scholarship recipients shall be required to devote themselves full-time to their programme of research during the tenure of the scholarship and may not hold a position of emolument without the approval of the University Scholarships Committee. Approval may be given for scholarship recipients to undertake paid employment (usually tutoring) for up to a maximum of 600 hours in any one calendar year. All requests to undertake part-time employment must be supported in writing by the supervisor.Once the period of tenure of a scholarship has commenced, the University Scholarships Committee may, at its sole discretion, grant a scholarship recipient a deferment of their scholarship for a period not exceeding one year. In most cases such a deferment will coincide with a formal suspension from their PhD enrolment.

A scholarship shall be terminated if a scholarship recipient ceases to resume the aforesaid programme of research within one month of the last day of the period of the deferment.

If an award is made to an existing PhD candidate the tenure of the award will be reduced.

Additional informationSeveral types of Victoria PhD Scholarship may be offered. Most successful applicants will be offered a Victoria PhD Scholarship which provide an annual stipend of NZ$21,000 plus tuition fees. However, a small number of Vice Chancellor’s Scholarships will be offered to the top applicants each round. These provide an annual stipend of $24,000 plus tuition fees. A number of Victoria Doctoral Assistantships are also offered each round. These consist of an annual stipend $15,000 plus tuition fees and an emploment component of $5,000.

Applicants, other than those who have completed all of their study at Victoria, must include a certified copy of their academic record from other institutions with this application. Applicants whose degree has been conferred at any university other than a New Zealand University will be considered in two categories:Category 1 – applicants from the UK, Ireland, USA, Canada, Germany or Australia must supply an original or certified copy of their university transcript.Category 2 – applicants from any other country must have their transcript verified and assessed with a course by course evaluation by one of the below educational evaluators: